Wrestling /
SummerSlam

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SummerSlam is one of WWE's most famous and long-running pay-per-view events, and one of the 'Big Four'; the three others are WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series. Much like 'Mania, it is considered a major "transition" PPV as major feuds and storylines tend to begin, end, or otherwise have a major element added to them at SummerSlam. Notable as being the only one of the 'Big Four' PPVs to have taken place outside North America; SummerSlam 1992 took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Between 2009 and 2014, SummerSlam was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Since 2015, they have been taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Has recently been billed as the "WrestleMania of the summer" with matches frequently being part of the big storylines of the season, such as Team WWE's clash with The Nexus in 2010 and the second John Cena vs. CM Punk bout in 2011.

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This event has examples of:

The Bad Guy Wins: A notable aversion from SummerSlam 1991, as far as the championships go; Bret Hart beat Mr. Perfect for the Intercontinental Championship, and the Legion of Doom beat the Nasty Boys for the tag titles. The WWF Championship, then held by Hulk Hogan, wasn't even defended, resulting in all the titles being held by faces by the time the event ended, a rarity for WWF's PPVs.

Batman Gambit: Bret Hart knew that Shawn Michaels had to be impartial as the Guest Referee in his 1997 title match with The Undertaker. He just had to anger Shawn enough to swing the steel chair at him, get out of the way so Undertaker was hit, and cover him while Michaels was forced to count.

Baron Corbin thought his match with Finn Balor would be a walk in the park... but, to his surprise, Finn brought out his "demon" persona and easily defeated Corbin, also in less than 2 minutes.

Ronda Rousey was easily the favorite in her match against Alexa Bliss, who spent most of the match running away. Ronda even let her opponent take a free shot at her, but to no avail, as Bliss was put away with an armbar.

Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight title at this event thrice (2004, 2011, and 2013note Cashing in his Money in the Bank contract against Daniel Bryan immediately after the latter won the title). He has also been in the main event four times (2003, 2004, 2007, and 2013note He's actually not even the official main event during the 2013 event. It's due to him cashing in his Money in the Bank contract immediately after the real title match concluded).

Ultimate Warrior captured the Intercontinental title at this event twice (1988 and 1989).

Plot Parallel: The 2017 event is notable for this. It saw both brands' Women's titles changing hands via submission, both brands' Tag Team titles changing hands, and both brands' World titles being retained.

Something Completely Different: SummerSlam '92 stands out to date as being the only 'big four' PPV held outside North America. Its location really makes it stand out from other PPV's of the SummerSlam name.

The inaugural SummerSlam saw Intercontinental Champion the Honky Tonk Man without an opponent after his scheduled opponent, Brutus Beefcake, was "injured." Honky practically demanded a match against anyone...and then that anyone showed up and plowed him down in 30 seconds to win the title.

SummerSlam 2014, where Brock Lesnar laid out John Cena to win the WWE World Championship. Unlike most squashes, which last less than two minutes, this one went 16 minutes, thanks in part to Lesnar just wanting to permanently injure Cena and show his superiority  he used 16 German suplexes to practically lay out "The Champ" and threw in a second F-5 fireman's carry for good measure  but also because of Cena's stubborn pride, risking permanent injury in the futile hope that Lesnar would make a mistake that would cost him the match. Cena's offensive flurries were, at best, ineffective, the mark of most squash matches back in the day.

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